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Purpose: Blockade of immune checkpoint and angiogenesis is an effective treatment strategy for advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We report the results of camrelizumab plus famitinib in the RCC cohort of an open-label, multicenter, phase II basket study. Patients and Methods: Eligible patients were enrolled to receive camrelizumab (200 mg i.v. every 3 weeks) and famitinib (20 mg orally once daily). Primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) per RECIST version 1.1. Results: Totally, 38 patients were recruited, including 13 (34.2%) treatment-naïve and 25 (65.8%) previously treated patients. With a median duration from enrollment to data cutoff of 16.5 months (range, 6.1–20.4), 23 patients achieved a confirmed objective response, and ORR was 60.5% [95% confidence interval (CI), 43.4–76.0]. Responses in 18 (78.3%) responders were still ongoing, and Kaplan–Meier estimated median duration of response had not been reached yet (range, 1.0+–14.8+ months). Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 14.6 months (95% CI, 6.2–not reached). ORR was 84.6% (95% CI, 54.6–98.1) in treatment-naïve patients and 48.0% (95% CI, 27.8–68.7) in pretreated patients; median PFS had not been reached and was 13.4 months (95% CI, 4.1–not reached), respectively. Most common grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse events included proteinuria (18.4%), hypertension (18.4%), decreased neutrophil count (13.2%), palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome (10.5%), and hypertriglyceridemia (10.5%). No treatment-related deaths occurred, and no new safety signals were observed. Conclusions: Camrelizumab plus famitinib showed potent and enduring antitumor activity in patients with advanced or metastatic RCC, both in treatment-naïve and previously treated population.

This study aims to construct a robust prognostic model for adult adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) by large‐scale multiomics analysis and real‐world data. The RPPA data, gene expression profiles and clinical information of adult ACC patients were obtained from The Cancer Proteome Atlas (TCPA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Integrated prognosis‐related proteins (IPRPs) model was constructed. Immunohistochemistry was used to validate the prognostic value of the IPRPs model in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC) cohort. 76 ACC cases from TCGA and 22 ACC cases from GSE10927 in NCBI’s GEO database with full data for clinical information and gene expression were utilized to validate the effectiveness of the IPRPs model. Higher FASN (P = .039), FIBRONECTIN (P

Purpose This study aims to identify potential prognostic biomarkers of bladder cancer (BCa) based on large-scale multi-omics data and investigate the role of SRC in improving predictive outcomes for BCa patients and those receiving immune checkpoint therapies (ICTs). Methods Large-scale multi-comic data were enrolled from the Cancer Proteome Atlas, the Cancer Genome Atlas and gene expression omnibus based on machining-learning methods. Immune infiltration, survival and other statistical analyses were implemented using R software in cancers (n = 12,452). The predictive value of SRC was performed in 81 BCa patients receiving ICT from aa validation cohort (n = 81). Results Landscape of novel candidate prognostic protein signatures of BCa patients was identified. Differential BECLIN, EGFR, PKCALPHA, ANNEXIN1, AXL and SRC expression significantly correlated with the outcomes for BCa patients from multiply cohorts (n = 906). Notably, risk score of the integrated prognosis-related proteins (IPRPs) model exhibited high diagnostic accuracy and consistent predictive ability (AUC = 0.714). Besides, we tested the clinical relevance of baseline SRC protein and mRNA expression in two independent confirmatory cohorts (n = 566) and the prognostic value in pan-cancers. Then, we found that elevated SRC expression contributed to immunosuppressive microenvironment mediated by immune checkpoint molecules of BCa and other cancers. Next, we validated SRC expression as a potential biomarker in predicting response to ICT in 81 BCa patient from FUSCC cohort, and found that expression of SRC in the baseline tumour tissues correlated with improved survival benefits, but predicts worse ICT response. Conclusion This study first performed the large-scale multi-omics analysis, distinguished the IPRPs (BECLIN, EGFR, PKCALPHA, SRC, ANNEXIN1 and AXL) and revealed novel prediction model, outperforming the currently traditional prognostic indicators for anticipating BCa progression and better clinical strategies. Additionally, this study provided insight into the importance of biomarker SRC for better prognosis, which may inversely improve predictive outcomes for patients receiving ICT and enable patient selection for future clinical treatment.

Treatments enhancing angiogenesis for chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) are still in the research stage. Although encephalomyosynangiosis (EMS) is a common indirect anastomosis for the treatment of CCH, the effectiveness to promote angiogenesis is not satisfactory. Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) is a cytokine found to specifically act directly on vascular endothelial cells, promote neovascularization, and enhance capillary permeability. However, the short half life and unstable property of VEGF underlies the need to explore available delivery system. In this study, poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) was used to prepare VEGF controlled-release microspheres. In vitro and in vivo analysis of release kinetics showed that the microspheres could release VEGF continuously within 30 days. Then, modified chronic cerebral hypoperfusion rat model was established by ligation of bilateral internal carotid artery and one vertebral artery. At 14 days after ischemia, the EMS and the VEGF microspheres injection were performed. At 30 days after the injection, the result of Morris water maze displayed that combinating VEGF microspheres and EMS significantly ameliorated cognitive deficit after ischemia. We observed that combinating VEGF microspheres and EMS could further significantly increase cerebral blood flow. We speculated that this enhancement of cerebral blood flow was attributed to more angiogenesis induced by combination of VEGF microspheres and EMS, which verified by more collateral circulation with cerebral angiography and higher expression of CD31 or α-SMA. Our study demonstrated that combinating VEGF-PLGA controlled-release microspheres could significantly promote angiogenesis in EMS-based CCH rats model, providing new ideas for clinical treatment of CCH.

Introduction The cell-surface ectonucleotidase CD39 is a key molecule of the immunosuppressive adenosine pathway within the tumor microenvironment. However, the relationship between CD39 and clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is rarely reported and still remains unclear. Methods CD39 expression was first analyzed using the Oncomine and the Tumor IMmune Estimation Resource (TIMER) databases, and then examined in ccRCC patients (n=367) who had undergone radical nephrectomy using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and real-time quantitative PCR analysis (qPCR). The prognosis value of CD39 in ccRCC was evaluated by Cox proportional hazards analysis. Functional and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed using transcriptomic data of ccRCC from TCGA. Correlation analysis between CD39 and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was performed using the TISIDB database. The impact of CD39 on immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) was evaluated by two public cohorts. Results CD39 mRNA and protein expression was upregulated in tumor tissues from ccRCC patients and aberrant expression of CD39 was associated with advanced tumor stage and poor prognosis in ccRCC patients. EMT, IL-2/STAT5, inflammatory response, interferon gamma and KRAS hallmark gene sets were identified as CD39-related signaling pathway. The expression level of CD39 was significantly and positively correlated with high abundance of the regulatory TILs including NK cells, macrophages, Th cells and Treg cells. CD39 was correlated with expression of several immune checkpoints and higher CD39 expression was associated with better OS of ccRCC patients who received ICT. Conclusion CD39 is a powerful prognostic marker of ccRCC patients. Increased tumor expression of CD39 mRNA is significantly correlated with infiltrating levels of TILs, and better efficacy of ICT to ccRCC. CD39 could be a novel therapeutic target for ccRCC.

Background: Carbonic anhydrase 4 (CA4) maintains homeostasis of carbon dioxide and bicarbonate. It is suggested to be a potential prognostic biomarker, while the correlations between CA4 and different cancers are indistinct. Methods: Differential mRNA expression of CA4 among different cancers and corresponding normal tissues was compared based on datasets on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) platforms. Then, survival analysis was performed using Tumor-immune system interactionsplatform and TCGA cohort on the basis of distinct comparison expression of CA4 in five kinds of tumors. In addition, molecular penal analysis and functional annotations of CA4-related genes was elaborated. The correlation between CA4 mRNA expression and tumor immune microenvironment were analyzed in detail. Results: Compared with adjacent normal tissues, CA4 mRNA expressions were found significantly lower in various tumors. Moreover, decreased expression of CA4 was significantly related to worse overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC), brain lower grade glioma (LGG), lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and uveal melanoma (UVM), and worse OS of prostate adenocarcinoma (PRAD) (p

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common and highly malignant pathological type of kidney cancer. We sought to establish a metabolic signature to improve post‐operative risk stratification and identify novel targets in the prediction models for ccRCC patients. A total of 58 metabolic differential expressed genes (MDEGs) were identified with significant prognostic value. LASSO regression analysis constructed 20‐mRNA signatures models, metabolic prediction models (MPMs), in ccRCC patients from two cohorts. Risk score of MPMs significantly predicts prognosis for ccRCC patients in TCGA (P

Increasing evidence has shown that Rad50, a protein involved in the DNA damage repair process, significantly correlated with tumor prognosis. This study focused on Rad50 expression in tumor samples and its prognostic value for patients with prostate cancer (PCa). In this study, significantly elevated Rad50 expression in PCa tissues compared to normal tissues (P < .01). Five independent Oncomine databases validated significant differential expression of Rad50 (P < .001). Hence, 80 patients with PCa from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC) and 351 patients with PCa with available protein expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were included to investigate the survival benefit. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to investigate the significance of clinicopathological factors on disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that elevated Rad50 protein expression levels significantly correlated with unfavorable DFS (P = .005) in the FUSCC cohort and poorer OS (P = .04) in TCGA cohort. Furthermore, coregulation analysis of proteins indicated that 76 coregulated proteins were associated with Rad50, while 11 most highly involved hub proteins, including Rad50, MRE11A, DUT, POLR3A, MCM3AP, RECQL, PNPT1, RANBP3, DDX1, SNRPB, and UGN, were significantly coregulated in the protein-protein interaction network. Functional enrichment analysis consecutively indicated significant functions and signaling pathways including DNA replication, spliceosome, DNA geometric change, homologous recombination, and G2M checkpoint. This study first reveals that elevated Rad50 expression is significantly associated with aggressive progression and poor survival for patients with PCa. Together, these data suggest that Rad50 may act as an oncoprotein, guide the molecular diagnosis, and may shed light on novel individual therapeutic strategies for progressive PCa patients.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the role of ACSL4 in CD8+ T cell tumor infiltration and outcomes of bladder cancer (BLCA) patients after immunotherapy.MethodsThe correlation between ACSL4 expression and tumor infiltration of immune cells was analyzed using the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource database. The prognostic significance of ACSL4 in BLCA was analyzed using Kaplan–Meier curves. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect CD8+ T cell infiltration in tumors with high and low ACSL4 expression obtained from patients at the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. The relationships between immune checkpoint genes and immune response were analyzed using The Cancer Genome Atlas and IMvigor 210 cohorts. The molecular functions, cellular components, and biological processes involving ACSL4 were explored using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes and Gene Ontology enrichment pathway analyses.ResultsThe expression level of ACSL4 was significantly correlated with the infiltration of CD8+ T cells in BLCA tumors (r = 0.192, P = 2.22e-04). Elevated ACSL4 was associated with suppressed tumor progression and better outcomes for BLCA patients. The higher expression level of ACSL4 predicted better immunotherapeutic responses and was associated with higher expression levels of core immune checkpoint genes, including CD274, CTLA4, PDCD1, and LAG3, compared with the low ACSL4 expression group.ConclusionThis study demonstrated for the first time that elevated ACSL4 correlated significantly with CD8+ T cell infiltration and contributed to better immunotherapeutic responses in BLCA patients. Furthermore, ACSL4 serves as a novel biomarker for predicting patient outcomes after immunotherapeutic treatments, which may improve the development of individualized immunotherapy for BLCA.

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is important in tumor invasiveness and metastasis. We aimed to determine prognostic value of six key EMT markers (CDH1, CDH2, SNAI1, SNAI2, VIM, TWIST1) in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). A total of 533 ccRCC patients with RNASeq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort were included for analysis. Gene expression of these EMT markers was compared between tumor and normal tissues based on Oncomine database and TCGA cohort. Their correlations with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were also examined in both TCGA cohort and FUSCC (Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center) cohort. Cox proportional hazards regression model and Kaplan-Meier plot were used to assess the relative factors. Functional enrichment analyses were utilized to describe biologic function annotations and significantly involved hallmarks pathways of each gene. We found that Epithelial marker, CDH1 expression was lower, while mesenchymal markers (CDH2, SNAI1, VIM, TWIST1) expression was higher in ccRCC primary tumors. In the TCGA cohort, we found that patients with higher expression of VIM, TWIST1 or lower expression of CDH1 had worse prognosis. Further, in the FUSCC cohort, we confirmed the predictive ability of mesenchymal markers and epithelial marker expression in PFS and OS of ccRCC patients. After generating Cox regression models, EMT markers (CDH1, SNAI1, VIM, and TWIST1) were independent prognostic factors of both PFS and OS in ccRCC patients. Our preliminary EMT prediction model can facilitate further screening of EMT biomarkers and cast a better understanding of EMT gene function in ccRCC.

Objective: Increasing evidence indicates that RAD50, which is involved in the repair process of DNA double-strand break (DSB), is also involved in cancer outcomes. However, its role in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. This study was designed to investigate the expression of RAD50 and its prognostic value in HBV-related HCC patients. Methods: 107 and 100 patients with HBV-related HCC from the Affiliated Hospital of Youjiang Medical University of Nationalities (AHYMUN) and the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University (AHNU), respectively, were enrolled in the study. The distribution of the categorical clinical-pathological data and the levels of RAD50 expression were compared with a χ2 test. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining of RAD50 was performed. A partial likelihood test based on univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis was developed to address the influence of independent factors on disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The Oncomine online database was used to analyse and validate the differential expression of RAD50. The Kaplan-Meier method and a log-rank test were performed to assess the influence of RAD50 on survival at different levels. Results: RAD50 was highly expressed in HCC tissues compared to normal tissues and was significantly correlated with OS in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort. The validation analysis indicated that significantly increased levels of RAD50 were expressed in HCC tissues in the two independent cohorts. In addition, HCC patients with elevated RAD50 expression levels showed poor OS and DFS in the AHYMUN cohort and decreased OS and DFS in the AHNTU cohort. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study reveals that elevated RAD50 expression is significantly correlated with cancer progression and poor survival in HBV-related HCC patients. These data suggest that RAD50 may act as an oncogene and may serve as a promising target for the therapy of HBV-related HCC patients.

BACKGROUND The serine peptidase inhibitor Kazal type 13 (SPINK13) gene has tumor suppressor activity, but its role in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate mRNA expression of SPINK13 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC) in human tissue and to use bioinformatics data to investigate the role of SPINK13 expression as a clinicopathological and prognostic biomarker for patients with CCRCC. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patients with CCRCC (N=533) with available RNA sequence data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-CCRCC database were analyzed with patients who had a tissue diagnosis of CCRCC (N=305) at the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC). Differential transcriptional and proteome expression profiles were obtained from the ONCOMINE cancer microarray database, TCGA, and the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) measured SPINK13 mRNA expression in 305 samples of CCRCC tissue from the FUSCC. The effects of clinicopathological parameters on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test. RESULTS Transcriptional and proteome expression of SPINK13 were significantly increased CCRCC tissue samples. Increased SPINK13 mRNA expression was significantly associated with reduced PFS and OS in 838 patients with CCRCC patients from the two independent cohorts, the FUSCC and the TCGA-CCRCC cohorts (p

Background Growing evidence has demonstrated immune reactivity as a confirmed important carcinogenesis and therapy efficacy for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Aquaporin 9 (AQP9) is involved in many immune-related signals; however, its role in ccRCC remains to be elucidated. This study investigated AQP9 expression in tumor tissues and defined the prognostic value in ccRCC patients. Methods A total of 913 ccRCC patients with available RNA-sequence data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC) were consecutively recruited in analyses. Differential transcriptional and proteome expression profiles were obtained and validated using multiple datasets. A partial likelihood test from Cox regression analysis was developed to address the influence of independent factors on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). The Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank test were performed to assess survival. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to describe binary classifier value of AQP9 using area under the curve (AUC) score. Functional enrichment analyses and immune infiltration analysis were used to describe significantly involved hallmark pathways of hub genes. Results Significantly elevated transcriptional and proteomic AQP9 expressions were found in ccRCC samples. Increased AQP9 mRNA expression was significantly associated with advanced clinicopathological parameters and correlated with shorter PFS and OS in TCGA and FUSCC cohorts (p AQP9 (PFS, AUC = 0.823; OS, AUC = 0.828). Functional annotations indicated that AQP9 is involved in the most significant hallmarks including complement, coagulation, IL6/JAK–STAT3, inflammatory response and TNF-alpha signaling pathways. Conclusion Our study revealed that elevated AQP9 expression was significantly correlated with aggressive progression, poor survival and immune infiltrations in ccRCC patients, and we validated its prognostic value in a real-world cohort. These data suggest that AQP9 may act as an oncogene and a promising prognostic marker in ccRCC.

Intratumoral fibrosis is a frequent histologic finding in highly vascularized clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Here, we investigated the expression of a family of collagen-modifying enzymes, procollagen-lysine, 2-oxoglutarate 5-dioxygenases 1, 2, and 3 (PLOD1/2/3), in ccRCC tissues and assessed the prognostic value of wild-type and genetically mutated PLOD1/2/3 for ccRCC patients. Normal kidney and ccRCC mRNA and protein expression datasets were obtained from Oncomine, The Cancer Genome Atlas, and Human Protein Atlas databases. Associations between PLOD1/2/3 expression, clinicopathological variables, and patient survival were evaluated using Cox regression and Kaplan–Meier analyses. PLOD1/2/3 mRNA and protein expression levels were significantly elevated in ccRCC tissues compared with normal kidney. Increased PLOD1/2/3 mRNA expression was significantly associated with advanced tumor stage, high pathological grade, and shorter progression-free and overall survival (all p

Traditionally, clear cell papillary renal cell carcinoma (ccpRCC) was considered to share similar molecular and histological characteristics with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC). Here we aimed to identify somatic and germline variants of ccpRCC. For this purpose, we conducted whole-exome sequencing to detect somatic variants in the tissues of 18 patients with pathologically confirmed ccpRCC, who underwent surgical treatment at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. Targeted sequencing was conducted to detect germline variants in paired tumor or normal tissues or blood. Somatic and germline variants of ccRCC and Renal cell carcinoma included in The Cancer Genome Atlas data and other published data were analyzed as well. The molecular profiles of ccpRCC, ccRCC and pRCC were compared. Among the 387 somatic variants identified, TCEB1 (3/18) and VHL (3/18) variants occurred at the highest frequencies. Germline mutation detection showed that nine variants associated with Fanconi anemia (VAFAs) pathway (FANCA, 6/18; FANCI, 3/18) were identified in 18 ccpRCC patients. Among ccpRCC patients with VAFAs, five out of eight patients had second primary malignancy or family history of cancer. Somatic variants characteristics may distinguish ccpRCC from ccRCC or pRCC and germline VAFAs may be a molecular characterization of ccpRCC. Compared with ccRCC or pRCC, ccpRCC patients may be significantly correlated with higher risk of developing second primary malignancy.

To construct a robust genomic classifier for high-risk sporadic type 2 papillary renal cell carcinoma (sPRCC2) and identify potential therapeutic targets. A cohort from The Cancer Genome Atlas and two datasets from Gene Expression Omnibus were examined. Common differentially expressed genes were screened, and the ConsensusClusterPlus package was used to identify potential high-risk molecular subtypes of sPRCC2. Targeting protein for Xklp2 (TPX2) expression was used to simulate the classifier according to the logistic model. Ninety-two samples from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC) were obtained, and TPX2 immunostaining was performed to validate the predictive ability of the genomic classifier. Retrospective analysis was used to compare drug efficacy between the groups. High-risk sPRCC2 had worse overall (hazard ratio [HR] = 7.804) and disease-free survival (HR = 8.777) than low-risk sPRCC2, and the tumor and lymph node stages were significantly higher in high-risk sPRCC2. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed significant enrichment of genes in the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 1 signaling pathway in the high-risk group. In the FUSCC cohort, high-risk sPRCC2 (high TPX2 expression) was significantly correlated with worse overall and progression-free survival. Retrospective analysis indicated that mTOR inhibitor (everolimus) had greater efficacy in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group (overall response rate: 28.6% vs. 16.7%) and that everolimus had greater efficacy than sunitinib in the high-risk group (overall response rate: 28.6% vs. 20%). This study successfully constructed a genomic classifier for identifying high-risk sPRCC2. mTOR inhibitors may have good efficacy in patients with high-risk sPRCC2.

Purpose: Lipid metabolism reprogramming is a major pathway in tumor evolution. This study investigated fatty acid synthase (FASN) mRNA expression in anthropometric adipose tissue and elucidated the prognostic value and potential mechanism of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).Materials and Methods: Transcription profiles were obtained from 533 ccRCC samples in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohorts. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and immunohistochemistry were performed to detect FASN expression in 380 paired ccRCC and normal tissues from the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC). Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue were at the level of the umbilicus as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Non-targeted metabolomics and in vitro experiments were used to reveal the biological functions of FASN.Results: Increased FASN expression was significantly relevant to advanced T, N, and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stages (p < 0.01) and significantly correlated to poor progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of 913 ccRCC patients in FUSCC and TCGA cohorts. Pearson's correlation coefficient indicated that FASN amplification was positively correlated to VAT% (r = 0.772, p < 0.001), which significantly correlated to poor PFS (HR = 2.066, p = 0.028) and OS (HR = 2.773, p = 0.023) in the FUSCC cohort. Transient inhibition or overexpression of FASN significantly regulated A498 and 786O cell proliferation and migration by regulating epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Inhibition of FASN led to a higher apoptotic rate and decreased lipid droplet formation compared with normal control in ccRCC cells. Non-targeted metabolomics showed that decreased de novo lipogenesis might be required to sustain an elevation of glycolytic activity in 786O cells by regulating galactinol, dl-lactate, N-acetylaspartylglutamate, and sucrose, thereby participating in carcinogenesis and progression of ccRCC.Conclusion: This study demonstrated that FASN expression is positively related to aggressive cell proliferation, migration, apoptosis, and lipid droplet formation and regulates metabolic disorders of the ccRCC microenvironment. Additionally, elevated FASN mRNA expression is significantly correlated to the abdominal obesity distribution, especially VAT%, which is a significant predictor of a poor prognosis for ccRCC patients.

Purpose: This study aims to identify potential prognostic role of ccRCC and provide clues for glycolysis and the benefits of immune checkpoint therapies (ICTs) of ccRCC. Methods: Based on TCGA (n=533), GEO (n=118), real-world (n=377) ccRCC cohorts, and approximately 15,000 cancer samples, prognostic value of HK3 was identified using survival, Cox regression and ROC analysis. Afterwards, functional effects of HK3 in ccRCC were analyzed in silico and in vivo. Results: The large-scale findings suggested significantly higher HK3 expression in ccRCC tissues and the predictive efficacy of HK3 for tumor progression and poor prognosis. Next, the subgroup survival and Cox regression analysis found that HK3 serves as a promising and independent marker predicting prognosis and survival of ccRCC patients from bioinformatics and real-world cohorts. Subsequently, we found that HK3 could modulate malignant behaviors of ccRCC cells. Additionally, the comprehensive results suggested that HK3 highly correlated with abundance of immune cells, and specifically stimulates the infiltration of monocyte/macrophage surface markers, regulates the immune checkpoint molecules PD-1 and CTLA-4 of exhaustive T cells, affects the immune escape process of cancers and predicts outcomes for ccRCC patients receiving ICT. Conclusion: In conclusion, the large-scale data first revealed that HK3 could predict aggressive progression and poor prognosis of ccRCC, and improve predictive outcomes for ccRCC patients receiving ICT. HK3 activated ccRCC microenvironment stimulates the abundance of monocyte/macrophage surface markers infiltration, and may regulate the key molecular subgroups immune checkpoint molecules of exhaustive T cells, promoting the formation of tumor immune escape in cancers. Funding Statement: This work is supported by Grants from National Key Research and Development Project (No.2019YFC1316000), the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No.20ZR1413100) and Shanghai Municipal Health Commission Project (2020CXJQ03) Declaration of Interests: The author reports no conflicts of interest in this work. Ethics Approval Statement: The Ethics approval and participation consent of this study was approved and agreed by the ethics committee of Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (Shanghai, China).

Background: Meningioma is one of the most common tumors of central nervous system. Although genetic alterations have been linked to elevated risk of malignancy for meningioma patients, the incongruence between clinical outcomes and WHO grade classification still exist. Therefore, large-scale genome-wide expression profiles identifying reliable biomarkers remains incompletely investigated. Methods: In order to identify genes related to invasion and metastasis process in meningiomas, genome-wide profiles in 145 meningioma patients were identified using microarray datasets GSE12530, GSE16581 and GSE43290 from the Gene Expression Synthesis (GEO) database based on differential tissues expression. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were constructed and functional annotations of DEGs were evaluated using R software. In addition, differential expression and prognostic value of CLU on meningioma was evaluated using immunohistochemistry in WHO grade II-III meningioma from AHYMUN, a real-world cohort. Results: A total of 58 DEGs were significantly associated with malignant behaviours of meningioma. Next, CLU were identified as hub gene in the PPI network, showing markedly prognostic implications in 67 meningioma patients. Expression level of CLU significantly climbed with elevated WHO risk classification. Interestingly, 40 genes were screened according to differential CLU expression. Additionally, significant high expression level of CLU were found in meningiomas tissue than normal tissues, predicting significant poor prognosis for 100 meningiomas patients from AHYMUN cohort. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study first reveals novel role of CLU using genome-wide expression profiles in high-risk WHO grade of meningioma and significant prognostic value based on large-scale cohorts. This work laid the foundation for the targeted molecular therapies and provided new insights into the treatment and prognostic srategies of meningiomas.

Objective: Growing evidence has proved obesity one of the confirmed important etiologic indicators for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). CD36 is underpinned to be involved in adipose absorption, but its role in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the mRNA expression of CD36 in anthropometric measures of adipose tissue and defining its value in predicting prognosis in ccRCC patients. Methods: Real-Time qPCR gene expression analysis was detected from 367 paired ccRCC and adjacent normal tissues. Distributions of categorical clinical-pathological data together with levels of CD36 expression were compared with χ2-test in a contingency table. Subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) were measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and identified at the level of the umbilicus. Pearson's correlation coefficient was utilized to quantify relations between body mass index (BMI), VAT%, SAT and CD36 expression respectively. Partial likelihood test from univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were developed to address the influence of independent factors on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were performed to assess the survival benefits between discrete levels. Results: In the current study, CD36 mRNA was demonstrated highly expressed in ccRCC compared with normal tissues. In addition, CD36 mRNA expression was significantly increased in patients with advanced TNM stage (p=0.003, p

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Growing evidence has demonstrated immune reactivity as a confirmed important carcinogenesis and therapy efficacy for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Aquaporin 9 ...

Background: Specific lifestyle factors including tobacco-exposure are vital etiologic factors for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), F2R Like Thrombin/Trypsin Receptor 3 (F2RL3) is associated with smoking but it is unknown whether its expression translate into poor survival of clear cell RCC (ccRCC). In the current study, the expression profiling and prognostic value of F2RL3 in Chinese patients with ccRCC were investigated. Methods: Using Quantitative PCR analysis and immunohistochemistry, the relative expression levels of F2RL3 in 367 paired ccRCC and adjacent normal tissues were calculated. Cox regression analysis was used to identify independent prognostic factors and Kaplan-Meier analysis and a log-rank test were employed to evaluate the prognostic value of F2RL3. Results: We observed that high expression of F2RL3 mRNA and protein were strongly correlated with shorten progression-free survival (PFS) of ccRCC with hazard ratios (HR; 95% confidence interval (CI)) of 2.060 (1.410-3.009) and 1.657 (1.193-2.300), respectively, as well as with poor overall survival (OS) with HRs (95%CI) of 2.826 (1.713-4.662) and 1.712 (1.140-2.569), respectively. After adjustment for confounding factors including smoking status, elevated HRs (95%CI) of 2.113 (1.445-3.089) and 1.692 (1.218-2.352) were presented for PFS, respectively, and 2.936 (1.777-4.851) and 1.811 (1.203-2.725) were present for OS, respectively. Meanwhile, increased F2RL3 mRNA and protein level were reported to significantly associate with smoking-exposure and well-known prognostic factors (higher TNM stage and ISUP grade). Conclusion: These findings suggested that F2RL3 mRNA and protein level in ccRCC is a robust predictor of poorly prognostic phenotype. Exploring the causal relevance of F2RL3 in ccRCC development further warrants in the future study.

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been linked to the pathogenesis of elevated arterial blood pressure (BP). Our study aimed to determine the association between anti-CMV titers and arterial BP in the Kazakh and Han Chinese populations. Kazakh and Han (n = 800 each) (age, ≥18 years) subjects from Xinjiang, China were examined for anti-CMV immunoglobulin (Ig)G titers using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The highest anti-CMV titer tertiles determined within gender and ethnicity groups were compared against the two lower tertiles and seronegative samples. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that anti-CMV titers were independent determinants for elevated systolic (p = 0.006) BP in Kazakh women and inversely associated with systolic (p = 0.004) and mean arterial (p = 0.019) BP in Han women. The association between CMV infection and/or resulting immune response and BP elevation differed by sex and ethnicity. In Kazakh women, they were associated with elevated BP and the opposite was true among Han women.

Background Increasing evidence indicates that RAD50, which is involved in the DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair process, is also involved in cancer outcomes. However, its role in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear.Aim This study was designed to investigate the expression of RAD50 and its prognostic value in HCC patients.Method A total of 207 patientswith HBV-associated HCCfrom two cohorts (107 and 100 patientsfrom the Affiliated Hospital of Youjiang Medical University of Nationalities and the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, respectively) were enrolled in the current study.The distribution of the categorical clinical-pathological data and the levels of RAD50 expression were compared with a χ 2 test. IHC staining of RAD50 was performed.A partial likelihood test based onunivariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis was developed to address the influence of independent factors on disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The Oncomine online database was used to analyse and validate the differential expression of RAD50. The Kaplan-Meier method and a log-rank test were performed to assess the influence of RAD50 on survival at different levels.Results RAD50 was highly expressed in HCC tissues compared to normal tissues and was significantly correlated with OS in the TCGA cohort. The validation analysis indicated that significantly increased levels of RAD50 were expressed in HCC tissues in the two independent cohorts, AHYMUN and AHNTU. In addition, HCC patients with elevated RAD50 expression levels showed poor OS and DFSin the AHYMUN cohort and decreased OS and DF Sin the AHNTU cohort. Furthermore, four datasets obtained from the Oncomine database validated the analysis of the differential expression of RAD50 in HCC tumours and normal tissues.Discussion In our study, we demonstrated that RAD50 was positively correlated with poor prognosis in HCC patients in the TCGA cohort. Our study also suggested that increased RAD50 expression in HBV-related HCC is a marker of poor prognosis. In this study, the analysis of the data form the two cohorts supported our hypothesis and clearly demonstrated thehigh expression of RAD50 in tumour tissues from HCC patients, which results inincreases in the HCC recurrence rate and poor overall survival.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate the factors associated with a survival benefit for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) treated with sunitinib, with and without cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN). MATERIAL AND METHODS This retrospective clinical study included 118 patients with mRCC who were treated with CN and sunitinib (CN-sunitinib) (N=70) and with sunitinib-alone (N=48). Categorical clinicopathological variables were compared with hypothesis tests using contingency tables and a chi-squared test. Independent indicators for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed with univariate and multivariate Cox regression models. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used to evaluate patient survival. RESULTS The median PFS and OS for the 118 patients were 8.38 and 15.48 months, respectively. There were no significant differences between the CN-sunitinib group and the sunitinib-alone group for either PFS (7.2 months vs. 11.6 months; P=0.525) or OS (16.7 months vs. 15.2 months; P=0.839). Stratification of patients based on clinicopathological characteristics showed that CN was significantly associated with reduced PFS and OS for patients with lymph node metastasis (PFS, P

Objective: To investigate the association between tumor PD-L1 expression and patient survival to determine whether PD-L1 represents an independent prognostic feature for patients with non-metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Patients and Methods: The tissue bank of the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center was queried to identity tissue samples of patients treated with radical nephrectomy, for non-metastatic sporadic clear cell RCC (ccRCC) between 2008 and 2015. Real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry staining was performed to detect the expression level of PD-L1 in paired cancer tissue and paracancerous tissue. Results: Three-hundred-and-thirty patients were enrolled in this study, with a mean age of 55.0 years at surgery and a mean tumor size of 5.2 cm. Two-hundred-and-forty-two (73.3%) and 88 (26.7%) patients showed a high and low expression of PD-L1 mRNA, respectively, while 254 patients had positive PD-L1 immunohistochemistry staining. Two-hundred-and-ninety-two patients had consistent results for mRNA and the PD-L1 protein based on these different detection methods. Patients with high PD-L1 expression were more likely to exhibit adverse pathologic features including an advanced T stage (P = 0.002) and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.044). The Kaplan–Meier curves of PFS and OS stratified by PD-L1 expression had a statistically significant difference. PD-L1 expression maintained a significant predictive role for PFS and OS in the multivariate cox model. Conclusions: Our data suggests that PD-L1 correlates with prognosis in RCC and targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway should be considered in the treatment of RCC patients.

Growing evidence has highlighted the immune response as an important feature of carcinogenesis and therapeutic efficacy in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). This study categorized ccRCC cases into high and low score groups based on their immune/stromal scores generated by the ESTIMATE algorithm, and identified an association between these scores and prognosis. Differentially expressed tumor environment (TME)-related genes extracted from common upregulated components in immune and stromal scores were described using functional annotations and protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks. Most PPIs were selected for further prognostic investigation. Many additional previously neglected signatures, including AGPAT9, AQP7, HMGCS2, KLF15, MLXIPL, PPARGC1A, exhibited significant prognostic potential. In addition, multivariate Cox analysis indicated that MIXIPL and PPARGC1A were the most significant prognostic signatures, and were closely related to immune infiltration in TCGA cohort. External prognostic validation of MIXIPL and PPARGC1A was undertaken in 380 ccRCC cases from a real-world cohort. These findings indicate the relevance of monitoring and manipulation of the microenvironment for ccRCC prognosis and precision immunotherapy.

OBJECTIVE Serine palmitoyltransferase, long chain base subunit 1 (SPTLC1) catalyzes the first step in sphingolipid synthesis and has been implicated in the progression of various cancers. However, its role in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) remains unclear. Here, we investigated the expression and prognostic value of SPTLC1 in ccRCC. METHODS Three ccRCC patient cohorts were studied. ccRCC and adjacent normal kidney tissue samples were obtained from 183 patients at the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC) and subjected to immunohistochemical staining and quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction to evaluate SPTLC1 protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression. Two validation cohorts consisting of mRNA and clinicopathological data sets from patients with ccRCC were obtained from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA, n = 429) and Oncomine (n = 178) databases. Associations between low and high SPTLC1 mRNA and protein expression and survival were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Independent prognostic factors were identified using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. RESULTS SPTLC1 mRNA or protein were expressed at significantly lower levels in ccRCC tissues compared with normal kidney tissues in all three patient cohorts (P

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES:To evaluate the role of cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN), which was an indispensable treatment in metastasis renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), compared with cytokine treatment,...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES:Growing evidence has proved obesity one of the confirmed important etiologic indicators for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). CD36 is underpinned to be involved in adipose abs...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES:Adrenal neuroblastoma (NB) is a common child malignancy that originates in the adrenal cortex. It is rare in adult. However there are also cases diagnosed or surviving i...

4550 Background: Considering the synergistic/additive effect of PD-1 blockade and angiogenesis inhibition, we conducted an open-label, multi-center phase II study of camrelizumab (an anti-PD-1 antibody) plus famitinib (a TKI against VEGFR-2, PDGFR, c-kit, and FGFR) in pts with heavily treated advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and unresectable urothelial carcinoma (UC). Methods: Based on an adaptive two-stage design, 22 pts were enrolled in the RCC and UC cohort, respectively, at stage 1; if there were ≥7 responders of the 22 pts, enrollment would be extend to 33 at stage 2. Pts received famitinib 20 mg orally QD plus camrelizumab 200 mg IV Q3W. Primary endpoint was ORR per RECIST v1.1. Preliminary data at stage 1 were reported at ASCO 2020 annual meeting (#5085). More than 7 pts in each cohort had CR/PR during stage 1; enrollment of stage 2 had been completed, and the data are firstly reported here. Results: 74 pts (38 advanced RCC and 36 unresectable UC) were enrolled from Jan 23, 2019 to Dec 14, 2020. In RCC cohort, 65.8% of pts had received ≥1 prior VEGFR inhibitors. In UC cohort, all pts had progressed on or relapsed after a platinum-containing chemotherapy. As of Jan 10, 2021, median time from enrollment to data cutoff was 18.8 mos (range, 8.5-22.7) for RCC cohort and 7.0 mos (range, 0.9-23.6) for UC cohort. In RCC cohort, ORR was 63.2% (95% CI, 46.0-78.2; 24 PRs), DCR was 89.5% (95% CI, 75.9-95.8), median DOR was not reached (range 2-19+ mos), mPFS was not reached, and 12-mo OS rate was 88.0%. Most pts (92.1%) had reduction in target lesions, and median reduction was 47% from baseline. ORR was 84.6% (95% CI, 57.8-97.3; 11/13) for untreated RCC pts and 52.0% (95% CI, 31.3-72.2; 13/25) for pre-treated pts; DCR was 100% (95% CI, 77.2-100.0) and 84.0% (95% CI, 65.3-93.6), mPFS was not reached and 13.4 mos (95% CI: 4.1-21.0), respectively. In UC cohort, of the 33 pts with post-baseline efficacy evaluation, ORR was 33.3% (95% CI, 19.8-50.4; 1 CR, 10 PRs), DCR was 60.6% (95% CI, 43.7-75.3), median DOR was not reached (range 1.0+-16.7+ mos), mPFS was 6.4 mos (95% CI, 2.1-11.8), and mOS was not reached. ORR trended to be higher for bladder cancer (43.8%, 7/16) than upper tract urothelial carcinoma (25.0%, 4/16). Treatment-related AEs (TRAEs) occurred in 97.3% of 74 pts. Grade 3 or 4 TRAEs occurred in 63.5% of pts, mainly hypertension (23.4%), decreased platelet count (21.3%), proteinuria (17.0%), anemia (14.9%), and palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome (14.9%). 1 pt died of TRAE (multiple organ dysfunction syndrome). Conclusions: Camrelizumab plus famitinib showed potent anti-tumor activity in pts with advanced RCC and UC with no new safety concerns. Additionally, promising ORR and durable DOR were observed in pts with heavily-treated RCC. These results support further investigation in these settings. Clinical trial information: NCT03827837.

e16563 Association of BMI, body composition and outcomes in Chinese patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with immunotherapy: a retrospective, multicohort analysis. Background: Obesity (body-mass index [BMI] ≥30 kg/m) is associated with a higher risk of developing clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) but, paradoxically, obesity is also associated with better outcome in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients treated with immunotherapy. Whether BMI associate outcomes in Chinese RCC patients treated with immunotherapy considering Asian population has a lower BMI? In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between BMI, body composition and outcomes of Chinese patients with RCC treated with immunotherapy. Methods: We evaluated clinical data of metastatic RCC patients treated with immunotherapy from five major centers in China. Despite using the Chinese standard, only 6 people met the obese standard (BMI ≥28 kg/m, as per WHO's BMI categories), so we divided the patients into high BMI gourps (BMI ≥24.0 kg/m), and normal weight groups (BMI 18.5-23·9 kg/m). We assessed overall survival, defined as the time from treatment initiation to the date of any-cause death or of censoring on the day of the last follow-up, in high BMI patients and in patients with a normal weight. We also investigative the relationship between body composition (skeletal muscle index (SMI = skeletal muscle area/height2), skeletal muscle density (SMD), and subcutaneous adipose distribution index (SADI = subcutaneous adipose tissue area / subcutaneous adipose tissue area + visceral adipose tissue area) of each patient at the third lumbar vertebrae) and overall survival using CT or MRI scan at the treatment initiation. Results: Out of a total of 222 patients, 203 had evaluable CT or MRI radiographs, pretreatment BMI measurements, and overall survival data for analyses, and we excluded 4 (1.7%) underwetight patients, leaving a final cohort of 199 patients from this study for our analyses. There were 79 (39.7%) high BMI patients and 120 (65.3%) normal weight patients. There was no difference in overall survival between the high BMI and normal weight groups (HR:1.36, CI 0.83-2.21). In addition, SMI and SMD were not associated with outcome of patients. Interestingly, although there was no statistical difference, subcutaneous fat was associated with better outcomes, while visceral fat was associated with poor outcomes. Thus, the combination of the two indicators, SADI, showed a significant prognostic correlation after adjustment for International Metastatic RCC Database risk score (aHR:0.314, CI 0.19-0.51). Conclusions: BMI is not a good predictor of the outcome of immunotherapy in Chinese patients with RCC. Evaluation of body composition may be a better tool for predicting prognosis in RCC patients treated with immunotherapy.

Chemokines are involved in many aspects of oncogenesis, including regulation of cancer cell growth, dissemination and host-tumor response. However, the potential of the chemokine receptors, CXCR4 and CXCR7, in serving as biomarkers in extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD) has been rarely examined. Expressions of CXCR4 and CXCR7 were evaluated in 92 EMPD specimens by immunohistochemistry. High expression of CXCR4 and CXCR7 were both correlated with regional lymph node metastasis and presence of lymphovascular invasion. High expression of CXCR7 also correlated with the depth of invasion. The prognostic value of these two chemokines were also investigated in progression-free survival (PFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). Both high expression of CXCR4 and CXCR7 were indicative of shorter PFS and CSS. In the combined prognostic model, concomitant high expression of CXCR4 and CXCR7 were suggestive of poor prognosis compared with the other two groups. In the multivariate analysis, depth of invasion, combined prognostic model and regional lymph node metastasis at diagnosis were the independent prognostic factors for EMPD patients for PFS, and the former two factors independently impacted CSS. Our results demonstrated that CXCR4 and CXCR7 can be used as prognostic biomarkers and prediction of aggressiveness of EMPD. Therapy targeting CXCR4 and CXCR7 may helpful to prevent EMPD progression and improve the prognosis of EMPD.

5085 Background: Camrelizumab (SHR-1210) is a humanised anti-PD-1 antibody. Famitinib malate is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) against VEGFR-2, PDGFR, c-kit, and FGFR. This is an ongoing, open label, multi-center Phase II study to assess the preliminary efficacy and safety of camrelizumab in combination with famitinib malate in patients (pts) with genitourinary cancers and gynecologic cancers. Here we just report genitourinary cancers results. Methods: Eligible pts were aged 18 or older, who had advanced clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma with their primary tumour resected or unresectable urothelial carcinoma, had an ECOG performance status of 0-1and measurable disease. Previous system treatments were allowed (excluding prior PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors or famitinib treatment). Famitinib 20 mg was administered orally once daily with SHR-1210 200 mg given intravenously every 3 weeks. We assessed antitumour activity and safety in all pts who received at least one dose treatment. The primary end point was objective response rate (ORR) per RECIST v1.1. Results: From 23 Jan 2019 to 24 Jun2019, 35 pts were enrolled (25 with RCC, 10 with UC). Median previous treatment line was 1 (range, 1-4), and 50.0% of pts had received ≥2 prior therapies in RCC, all pts received one or more-line therapies in UC. At the data cut-off date (Dec 31, 2019), after at least 6 months follow-up, 22 (63%) pts were still receiving study treatment. The most common reason for discontinuing treatments was disease progression (n = 10). 16 pts achieved a confirmed response, all were partial response, with 8 additional > 24 weeks stable disease. the ORR was 52.0% (13/25, 95% CI 31.3% to 72.2%) in RCC and 30.0% (3/10) in UC, the disease control rate was 84.0% (21/25) in RCC and 70.0% in UC. 13/16 confirmed PR pts were still on treatment, the median duration of response is not reached. The most common grade 3-4 treatment-related AEs (TRAEs) were hypertension (17.1%), proteinuria (11.4%), platelet count decreased (8.6%), hand-foot syndrome (8.6%) and anemia (5.7%). Immune-related adverse events were observed in 7 pts (20%) of 35 pts, 1 pt (2.9%) with grade 3 enteritis. Conclusions: The camrelizumab with famitinib combination appeared to show encouraging activity in pts with heavy-treated RCC and UC, and the safety profile of the combination seemed to be manageable and consistent with that of each drug alone. This combination represented a novel potential treatment option for these settings and warranted further investigation. Clinical trial information: NCT03827837 .

Objective: The International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) has proposed a grading system to classify renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, classification using biopsy specimens remains problematic and, consequently, the accuracy of a biopsy-based diagnosis is relatively poor. This study aims to combine clinical and immunohistochemical (IHC) factors for the prediction of high ISUP grade clear cell RCC (ccRCC) in an attempt to complement and improve the accuracy of a biopsy-based diagnosis. Methods: A total of 362 ccRCC patients were enrolled in this study and used for the training set. We performed IHC analysis of 18 protein markers on standard tissue sections using an automated stainer. Multivariate logistic regression models were developed to evaluate independent predictors for high ISUP grade. We evaluated different prediction models using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the ROC curve (AUC) analysis. A nomogram for the derivation of an integrated score for predicting high ISUP grade ccRCC and a calibration curve were also plotted. Finally, an internal validation cohort was examined to evaluate the performance of our integrated scoring system and nomogram. Results: Multivariate logistic analyses revealed seven credible candidates for predicting high grade ISUP. These were age, tumor diameter, surgery, and CK7, Ki-67, PTEN, and MTOR protein expression. The ROC curves for the clinical, IHC and integrated models were compared in the training set, and the AUC for each was 0.731, 0.744, and 0.801, respectively. DeLong's test showed that the integrated model was significantly better at predicting high ISUP grade, when compared with the other models. Internal validation confirmed the good performance of the integrated score in predicting ISUP grade. Conclusion: We have developed a nomogram integrating clinical and immunohistochemical parameters to predict high ISUP grade for M0 ccRCC patients. This nomogram may offer potentially useful information during preoperative individualized patient risk assessment, and consequently may help urologists when planning personalized management regimens.

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Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, the renin–angiotensin system (RAS), endothelial function, and DNA methylation play roles in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension (EH); however, the mechanism by which HCMV predisposes patients to hypertension remain unclear. Our group previously demonstrated an association between EH and HCMV infection in Kazakh Chinese. Here, we investigated the relationship between HCMV infection and other clinicopathological features in 720 Kazakh individuals with or without hypertension (n=360 each; age: 18–80). Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were used to determine the associations between HCMV infection, clinical characteristics, and EH. Notably, patients with EH, particularly those with HCMV infection, exhibited a marked increase in tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHDG) levels, but a decrease in endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and renin levels. Similarly, elevated TNF-α and 8-OHDG levels were independent predictors of increased HCMV antibody titers, whereas eNOS and renin were negatively correlated with the latter. Moreover, serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (sACE, ACE) methylation was increased, whereas 11-β hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 (HSD11β2; HSD3B2) methylation was decreased in patients with EH who were also infected with HCMV. A positive correlation between HSD3B2 methylation and HCMV IgG titer and blood pressure was additionally observed, whereas angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) methylation was inversely correlated with blood pressure. Collectively, these data indicate that HCMV may contribute to EH development in the Kazakh Chinese by increasing TNF-α and 8-OHDG levels, suppressing eNOS and renin, and manipulating HSD3B2 and ACE methylation.

739 Background: Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in important in tumor invasiveness and metastasis. We aimed to determine prognostic value of six key EMT markers (CDH1, CDH2, SNAI1, SNAI2, VIM, TWIST1) in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Methods: A total of 533 ccRCC patients with RNASeq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort were included for analysis. Gene expression of these EMT markers was compared between tumor and normal tissues based on Oncomine database and TCGA cohort. Their correlations with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were also examined in both TCGA cohort and FUSCC (Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center) cohort. Cox proportional hazards regression model and Kaplan-Meier plot were used to assess the relative factors. Functional enrichment analyses were utilized to describe biologic function annotations and significantly involved hallmarks pathways of each gene. Results: We found that Epithelial marker, CDH1 expression was lower, while mesenchymal markers (CDH2, SNAI1, VIM, TWIST1) expression was higher in ccRCC primary tumors. In the TCGA cohort, we found that patients with higher expression of VIM, TWIST1 or lower expression of CDH1 had worse prognosis. Further, in the FUSCC cohort, we confirmed the predictive ability of mesenchymal markers and epithelial marker expression in PFS and OS of ccRCC patients. After generating Cox regression models, EMT markers (CDH1, SNAI1, VIM, and TWIST1) were independent prognostic factors of both PFS and OS in ccRCC patients. Conclusions: Our preliminary EMT prediction model can facilitate further screening of EMT biomarkers and cast a better understanding of EMT gene function in ccRCC.

736 Background: Xp11.2 translocation renal cell carcinoma (Xp11.2 RCC) is a rare subtype of RCC which occurs predominantly in children and adolescents. Xp11.2 RCC is characterized by the gene fusions of transcription factor E3 (TFE3). Since there is a high false-positive and false-negative rate of immunohistochemistry (IHC) for TFE3 and an uncertainty of TFE3 fusion partners by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), a genetic approach, such as DNA sequencing, is necessary for auxiliary diagnosis. Methods: Thirty Chinese Xp11.2 RCC patients with positive TEF3 fusion diagnosed by FISH were involved in this analysis. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples were collected for a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based 576 gene panel assay. Genomic alterations including single base substitution, copy number variations, gene fusions, and rearrangements were assessed. Tumor mutational burden (TMB) and microsatellite instability (MSI) status were also analyzed by an NGS algorithm. Results: The 30 patients in the Xp11.2 RCC cohort included 13 males and 17 females, and had a median age of 30 years. TFE3 fusions of these patients were confirmed by both FISH and NGS. Out of the 30 Xp11.2 RCC patients, 2 patients (6.7%) showed negative TFE3 IHC expression and 4 patients (13.3%) showed equivocal TFE3 IHC expression. ASPL (9/30), PRCC (5/30), PSF (5/30), and NONO (3/30) were the most common partners of TFE3 fusion in this cohort. Moreover, we identified uncommon or novel partner genes by NGS, including ZNF627 (1/30), PTPN12 (1/30), PBM10 (1/30), PARP14 (1/30), MED15 (2/30), MATR3 (1/30), LUC7L3 (1/30), KHSRP (1/30), and EWSR1 (1/30). Based on the NGS results, several actionable genomic alterations including CDKN2A, BRCA2, and ATM were found in this study. All samples were identified as microsatellite stable (MSS). The median TMB of the entire cohort was 1.35 muts/Mb (range, 0-9.2 muts/Mb). Conclusions: In summary, we identified the partner genes of TFE3 fusion in 30 Chinese Xp11.2 RCC patients by NGS. Ten uncommon or novel partner genes (33.3%) of TFE3 were identified in this study. Overall, our results provide evidence for diagnosis and therapeutic strategies for Xp11.2 RCC patients.

737 Background: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patient usually face aggressive progression when metastasis occurs. Therefore, in-depth investigation is needed to elucidate underlying mechanisms behind the metastasis of ccRCC to promote therapeutic benefits.This study aims to explore and investigate prognostic gene expression profiles based on multi-cohorts. Methods: Three microarray datasets were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to screen and identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) according to normalization annotation information. A total of 112 DEGs with functional enrichment were identified as candidate prognostic biomarkers. A protein–protein interaction network (PPI) of DEGs was developed, and the modules were analyzed using STRING and Cytoscape. Results: LASSO Cox regression suggested 31 significant involved genes, and 10 hub genes were identified as independent oncogenes in ccRCC patients. Distinct integrated scores of the hub genes mRNA expression showed statistical significance in predicting disease-free survival (DFS; p

Objectives To investigate the clinicopathological features, therapeutic strategies, and prognostic factors of patients with penoscrotal invasive extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD). Patients and Methods We retrospectively collected clinical, pathological, and follow-up data of 56 men with invasive penoscrotal EMPD. Histopathological features of the primary skin lesion including tumour size, surgical margin status, depth of invasion and lymphovascular invasion were examined. Results The median age was 67 years and median longest diameter of lesion was 5 cm. All patients were treated with wide surgical excision and 22 patients with clinically positive regional lymph nodes underwent therapeutic regional lymph node dissection. At the end of the study, 44.6% of patients developed distant metastasis and 39.3% of patients had died from disease. Univariate analysis showed that patients with one of the following poor prognostic factors: depth of invasion of lower dermis or deeper, presence of lymphovascular invasion and regional lymph node metastasis at diagnosis, had significantly shorter cancer-specific survival time. Multivariate analysis found that depth of invasion was the only independent prognostic factor. Conclusion The prognosis of invasive EMPD is significantly associated with depth of invasion, lymphovascular invasion and regional lymph node status. More aggressive therapy and more rigorous follow-up should be recommended for patients with these poor prognostic factors.

The predictive factors of prognosis and treatment strategies for small-cell carcinoma (SCC) of the urinary tract are controversial. This study was aimed to investigate the clinical experience and management of patients with SCC of the urinary tract. We collected data of patients who were diagnosed with genitourinary SCC (GSCC) between 2002 and 2013 and were treated in the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. A total of 18 patients were diagnosed with GSCC of which 10 originated from the prostate, seven from the bladder and one from the adrenal gland. The mean follow-up time was 15.5 months and progression-free survival (PFS) was 9.3 months. Primary tumor resection was attempted in 13 of 18 patients (72.2%) in whom radical surgery was performed in six of 14 (42.9%) limited disease patients. Most of the patients (13, 72.2%) received cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Patients who had normal lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) levels showed a significantly higher median PFS and overall survival (OS) compared with patients with high LDH levels (P = 0.030, P= 0.010). Patients with limited disease treated with a radical operation experienced a non-significant (P = 0.211) longer PFS compared with patients who were not treated, but this reached statistical significance after analyzing OS (P = 0.211, P= 0.039). Our patients showed a poor prognosis as reported previously. Serum LDH levels beyond the normal range indicate a poor prognosis. For GSCC patients who are diagnosed with limited disease, radical surgery is strongly recommended along with cisplatin-based chemotherapy.

Objective To investigate whether visceral obesity is associated with certain histological subtypes of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in a multicentre Chinese cohort. Patients and Methods A kidney tumour database was created using three tertiary centres in China; 487 patients were enrolled presenting with localised RCC and complete computer tomography (CT)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) information. A single-slice CT image was used to measure the area of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues in each patient. Statistical methods were used to analyse clear-cell RCC (ccRCC) and non-clear-cell RCC (non-ccRCC) as they relate to visceral fat area (VFA) and other risk factors, such as age, gender, tumour size, diabetes, hypertension, total fat area (TFA) and body mass index (BMI). Results In all, 418 patients had a ccRCC subtype and 69 had a non-ccRCC subtype. For all the patients with RCC, the mean VFA was 102 cm2, while mean BMI was 24 kg/m2. The mean VFA was greater in ccRCC than non-ccRCC patients by 25 cm2. There were significant differences in the mean VFA and TFA between patients with ccRCC and those with non-ccRCC. Multivariate analysis showed that the presence of VFA was more important than the effects of BMI and Type 2 diabetes on pathology prediction. In patients with a normal BMI, those with a higher quartile of VFA were more likely to develop ccRCC than those with a low VFA. Conclusions Increased visceral fat was found to be associated with ccRCC and the significance of VFA outweighed the effects of BMI and Type 2 diabetes for the prediction of RCC pathology in multivariate analyses. As a result, VFA could constitute a primary explanation for the link between obesity and ccRCC.

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a standard treatment for metastatic, recurrent and locally advanced prostate cancer (PCa). The aim of this study is to investigate the timing and extent of testosterone recovery in clinically localized PCa patients treated with radical prostatectomy (RP) and subsequent short-term adjuvant ADT. A total of 95 localized PCa patients underwent RP and 9-month adjuvant ADT were included in this prospective study. Serum testosterone level was measured before adjuvant ADT, at ADT cessation, and at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after cessation of ADT. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess variables associated with the time of testosterone normalization. The results showed that median patient age was 67 years and median testosterone level before adjuvant ADT was 361 (230-905) ng dl(-1). All patients finished 9-month adjuvant ADT and achieved castrate testosterone level. At 3 months after ADT cessation, testosterone recovered to supracastrate level in 97.9% patients and to normal level in 36.9% patients. The percentage of patients who recovered to normal testosterone level increased to 66.3%, 86.3% and 92.6% at 6, 9 and 12 months, respectively. Cox regression model found that higher baseline testosterone level (≥ 300 ng dl(-1)) was the only variable associated with a shorter time to testosterone normalization (hazard ratio: 1.98; P = 0.012). In conclusion, in most patients, testosterone recovered to supracastrate level at 3 months and to normal level at 12 months after 9-month adjuvant ADT cessation. Patients with higher baseline testosterone level need shorter time of testosterone normalization.

Programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), a promising antitumor target, has proven clinical value against many malignancies. However, the PD-L1 content of Xp11.2 translocation renal cell carcinoma (Xp11.2 RCC) and its correlation with clinical outcomes remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate PD-L1 expression in Xp11.2 RCC and to assess its prognostic value. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens from 36 adult patients that were histologically confirmed (by fluorescence in situ hybridization) were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis. Of the 36 Xp11.2 RCC patients, 9 (25.0%) had tumors with positive PD-L1 expression and 27 (75.0%) had tumors with negative PD-L1 expression. Positive PD-L1 expression correlated with advanced tumor stage (P = 0.001), regional lymph node metastasis (P

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) c.677C>T and c.1298A>C variants were known to be associated with prostate cancer (PCa) risk with conflicting results, because of MTHFR and nutrient status interaction in the prostate development. In this large-scale, hospital-based, case-control study of 1817 PCa cases and 2026 cancer-free controls, we aimed to clarify the association between these two MTHFR variants and PCa risk in Shanghai and to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. We found that both the heterozygous CT (adjusted OR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.67–0.92) and the homozygous TT genotypes (adjusted OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.55–0.83) of c.677C>T were associated with a significantly decreased risk of PCa compared with homozygous wild-type CC genotype, respectively, using multivariate logistic regression. Furthermore, we confirmed that MTHFR c.677T allele was related to an increased serum homocysteine level in the Han Chinese population in Shanghai. In the cultured PCa cell lines, we observed that MTHFR c.677T could elevate the cellular homocysteine level and cause DNA damage, thus increasing cell apoptosis and finally inhibiting cell proliferation. In conclusion, MTHFR c.677T was a protective factor of PCa risk in ethnic Han Chinese males by inducing DNA damage and cell apoptosis.